Lot Description
Bernardo Bellotto (Venice 1721-1780 Warsaw)
An architectural capriccio with figures and a soldier by a pond, and others in the courtyard beyond
oil on canvas, the extremities of the upper corners made up
42¼ x 45½ in. (107.3 x 115.6 cm.)
with inventory no. '464' (lower left)
Provenance
Mrs. Freeman, Maine.
with Dr. Rudolf Heinemann, New York.
with Agnew's, London, by 1974.
Exhibited
New York, Colnaghi, Views from the Grand Tour, 25 May-30 June 1983, no. 1, catalogue introduction by J.G. Links and entry by C. Whitfield.
London, Harari and Johns, Ltd., Six Centuries of Old Master Paintings, 16 November-15 December 1989, no. 21.
Gorizia, Palazzo della Torre, Le Meraviglie di Venezia: Dipinti del '700 in collezioni private, 14 March-27 July 2008, no number, catalogue entry by D. Succi.
Conegliano, Palazzo Sarcinelli, Bernardo Bellotto: Il Canaletto delle corti europee, 11 November 2011-15 April 2012, no. 11, catalogue entry by A. Delneri.
View Lot Notes >
Lot Notes
This architectural fantasy, as Whitfield was the first to propose, must have been conceived during Bellotto's second period of residence at Dresden from 1761 until the winter of 1766-1767. He had first worked for the Saxon court there between 1748 and 1758, and it was in that period that his justly celebrated views of Dresden itself and the great castle of Königstein were painted. Several of the architectural compositions assigned to the second period at Dresden show richly decorated palaces seen through the arches of loggias, the shadows within which serve, as in this canvas, to focus the eye on the sharply lit buildings beyond. In other instances multiple versions, or variants, of such compositions survive (for example, the Capriccio with Motifs from the Ducal Palace and the Dioscuri; see S. Kozakiewicz, Bernardo Bellotto, London, 1972, nos. 307-9, and the Capriccio with a Motif from the Palazzo del Senato, Rome, op. cit., nos. 311-4): but there would appear to be no other versions of this composition, the number on which, 464, implies that at an early date it formed part of a very substantial collection. As Dario Succi noted, a number of the figures in this picture correspond closely with those in other pictures of the period, thus the guard is similar to one in an overdoor at Dresden (op. cit., no. 318), but with different boots and a yellow rather than a blue lining; while parallels could be cited for other figures.
What is arguably Bellotto's most ambitious architectural composition of the kind, the upright fantasy in which Bellotto showed himself in the costume of a Venetian patrician, known from three versions (op. cit., nos. 333, 334 and 334a) is generally dated to the end of the Dresden period, 1765-1766: the signed Warsaw version (no. 333) is thought to have been taken to that city when Bellotto moved there in 1767, and it cannot be excluded that the artist created some of the replicas of other architectural fantasies when in Warsaw, or indeed that this composition might have been evolved after the artist left Dresden. The extent to which Bellotto drew upon the services of his son Lorenzo, who was to die in 1770, in the initial preparation of replicas of his pictures cannot be established. The son's one signed work, dated 1765 (Northampton, Massachusetts, Smith College; op. cit., no. 316), which daringly shows the wing of a great palace through a curved arcade, although similar in scale, is rather different in detail, corresponding in both tone and precision with, for example, the architectural fantasy of 1762 at Hamburg (op. cit., no. 318), universally given to the father. That Bellotto himself revised his ideas for the composition of this canvas is suggested by visible underdrawing between the mouldings below the spandrels of the arcade on the left and by the horizontal canvas join that runs just below the arches that frame the composition.

oil on canvas
PROVENANCE
James Harris (1709-1780); Thence by descent to his son, James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury,
Heron Court, Christchurch, Hants., and thence by descent in the
family; William James Harris, 6th Earl of Malmesbury; By whom sold, Christie's, London, December 13, 1985, lot 7 (as
Attributed to Bellotto); With Harari & Johns, Ltd., London; From whom purchased by the present owners in 1987.
LITERATURE AND REFERENCES
S. Kozakiewicz, Bernardo Bellotto, London 1972, vol.
II, p. 437, cat. no. Z 193 (as not by Bellotto, based on a
photograph in the Witt photo archive).
CATALOGUE NOTE
Perhaps no other area of Venetian vedute scholarship has
occasioned more interest and discussion than the work of the young
Bernardo Bellotto. In marked contrast to his later pictures, highly
individual and distinctly conceived, and depicting foreign
capitals? Dresden, Warsaw, Vienna and other Northern European
cities? the artist's earliest paintings were of his native Venice,
and produced under the influence, and, at first at least, under the
direction of his uncle Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto.
The high quality of even the very young Bellotto's output has made
attributions at times difficult, with pictures by him being
attributed to Canaletto, or other artists.1 However,
recent archival work as well as a slowly increased awareness of
Bellotto's own "signature" details, even in the most Canalettoesque
of his works, have formed a more full and robust picture of the
artist's earliest style.
The present View of the Grand Canal with the Rialto
Bridge is a key work in the understanding of the oeuvre of the young Bellotto, and demonstrates many of the signature
details of his style, perceptible even in his earliest paintings.
While the young artist had quickly absorbed, and, for the most
part, mastered his uncle's impressive skills of perspective,
coloration and effects of light, his artistic temperament asserted
itself from very early on and is discernible even when his
compositions adhere closely to a Canaletto prototype. In the
present canvas, there are subtle examples of these which confirm
Bellotto's authorship. Bellotto's idiosyncratic use of black, for
example, is evident, in the expression of architectural
details?windows, pilasters, roof tiles?and in boats and figures.
The summary description of the waves in the water is also different
than Canaletto's; elongated and more periodic, while Canaletto's
are more varied. The interest in strong contrast in shade and dark
is also seen, as is Bellotto's typical treatment of cloud
formations, much less fluffy than Canaletto's and more hard
edged.2 Perhaps most telling, however, is the overall
palette and tonality of the View of the Grand Canal with the
Rialto Bridge; rather than Canaletto's sunny and bright colors,
it is painted in the flinty, wintery blue tones that would remain a
constant throughout Bellotto's career.
While these stylistic elements are evident, it is the
exceptional provenance of the present painting that is more
significant for the chronology of Bellotto's early work. In an
addendum to a manuscript "Account of My Pictures" compiled
in 1739, James Harris (1709-1780), the celebrated philosopher and
politician, noted that he had recently added to his collection:
Four Views of Venice?the two larger by Marieschi... the two
lesser by Antonio Bellotti (sic), one representing the Custom
house, the other the Rialto. The two first cost 20 guineas, ye two
last ten. They were painted all at Venice & imported at my
Request by Mr. Wm. Hayter of London,
Merc.t 1743.
3
This mention of Bellotto, garbled though it is, is the first
known documentary reference to the artist with which an
identifiable painting can be securely connected, and shows that by
this date, the artist was selling to an international clientele,
under his own name (albeit misunderstood by the client who
apparently confused his Christian name with that of his more famous
uncle).4 Indeed the fact that the two views were
purchased together with two larger paintings by Marieschi, who had
just died that year and was an artist of considerable fame, is
indicative of Belloto's burgeoning reputation, as is the reasonably
good price that he got for them.5 These two "Bellotti"
were then inherited by Harris' son, the 1st Earl of
Malmesbury and then descended in the family, rarely seen, until
they were both offered for public sale separately, the present
canvas in 1985 (see Provenance), and its pendant just a
few months later in 1986.6 They were soon purchased
thereafter by the present owners, thus providing an unbroken and
well-documented provenance almost from the moment they left the
studio of the painter until the present day. Harris' manuscript
note sadly does not allow for a precise dating of the present
canvas, but does give a date of 1743 ante-quem for their
production, and stylistically this View of the Grand Canal with
the Rialto Bridge would seem to be in accord with other works
of this period, circa 1740.
Like many of Bellotto's earliest works, the present painting
finds its source in a composition by Canaletto. A quintessential
view of the city, this bend in the Grand Canal just before the
Rialto Bridge was painted by Canaletto from the beginning of his
career, as early as 1725. It depicts from left, the corner of the
Palazzo Civran, which forms a solid, hard edge to the composition
at left. Next to it is the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, and just to the
right is the Rialto Bridge, the main focus of the composition. Next
to that is the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi (a sort of treasury office
for the republic) and then a bit further the open space of the
Naranzeria and Erberia (the fruits and greens markets) with the
Fabbriche Nuove beyond. There are a few cargo boats tied up at the
side of the canal, and a few figures are standing in the now mostly
vacant market piazze. It is most likely that Bellotto would
have based it (as with its pendant) on the canvas that Canaletto
had painted for Consul Joseph Smith, his most important
patron.7 Bellotto's choice of one of Smith's pictures on
which to base the composition itself is indicative of the young
painter's future ambitions and his own attempts to rival and
perhaps surpass his uncle.
We are grateful to Bozena Anna Kowalczyk for confirming the
attribution of the present painting to Bellotto. She has requested
that it be loaned to the exhibition Canaletto and Bellotto: Two
Masters of the Venetian View Painting Compared, to be held at
Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, March 13- June 15, 2008.
1 Many of the art historians who understood the field best had
trouble distinguishing between the works of the two artists, or
were hesitant in attributing Venetian views to Bellotto on
stylistic grounds. For a full and reasoned discussion of the
subject, please see C. Beddington, Bernardo Bellotto and his
circle in Italy. Part I: not Canaletto but Bellotto, Burlington
Magazine, no. 1219, vol, CXLVI, pp. 665-674. 2 Beddington (op. cit. p. 667) aptly and usefully describes
Bellotto's clouds as resembling "icing sugar." 3 Cf. F. Russell, "Patterns of Patronage," in Canaletto in
England, 2006, p. 40. 4 A group of four paintings by Bellotto were acquired a few years
earlier in November 1740 for Marshall van den Schulenberg. These
are now lost or unrecognized, although B.A. Kowalczyk hypothesizes
that two of these pictures depicting views of the Piazetta may be
the pair formerly in the Spitzer collection, Paris, now in a
private collection (see Bernardo Bellotto and the Capitals of
Europe, exhibition catalogue, Milan 2001, pp. 5-6, illus. figs.
2-3). 5 Another magnificent painting by Marieschi of the Bacino di San
Marco which has remained in the family was purchased by Harris
at the same time, but was given then to Canaletto himself, thus
underlining the difficulties that even informed contemporaries had
in distinguishing between the various vedutisti then active
(see B.A. Kowalczyk, Canaletto: il trionfo della veduta,
Milano 2005, pp. 144-146, cat. no. 31). 6 Venice, Entrance to the Grand Canal, looking West, with the
Dogana; Sale: Christie's, London, April 11, 1986, lot 57 (as
Attributed to Bellotto). 7 Now in the Royal Collection, see Constable and Links, cat. no.
236.

Etching, 1747, a fine impression of Kozakiewicz's third state (of five), with the coat of arms still printed from a separate plate, on paper with a Proprietary watermark, with margins, with the usual central vertical fold reinforced (mainly visible
verso
), some thin areas along edges of sheet and other minor defects, very slight paper discoloration